Do I need an upgrade?

[CyberCynth]

Hello peoples, before you all dash off to the PC rally for the weekend, perhaps you could answer one or two questions before you go, please?

You will have seen the details of my match from my signature. Now, having done a towing match on the C&CC matching service, I was given the all-clear, i.e., 'good match' status when I changed my caravan to the Gobur 10/2T. There is a cautionary note however, in that the noseweight of the Gobur exceeds that of the allowance for the Fabia, which is a rather stingy 50kg. The 'van noseweight is 63kg. How much does this matter? Should I be looking to change the towcar?

The Fabia copes very well with the Carousel, however it does use some oil every time I go for an outing. Is this another reason to upgrade?

Can someone explain to me (preferably in monosyllables!) about BHP (Or PS as it seems to be called nowadays) E.G., the Fabia is a 1.2 TSi 105 PS. I was thinking of changing to a 1.6 Octavia, but this is the same PS. So what advantage is there in upgrading to a bigger engine if the PS figure is the same? It seems I would have to swap for 1.8 to get a bigger engine with a higher PS figure. I find it all rather baffling.

I have the quandary also, of whether to sell my car privately, or trade it in against a dealer's vehicle. I realise I'll probably lose more money by trading in, but am I realistically going to achieve the figure I want? (Given to me by Autotrader's valuation service). I feel at a bit of a disadvantaage being on my own. Would it be safer to trade-in at a maker's dealership? (Skoda dealer, for example) Hope some of you can share your pearls of wisdom with me. Thank you!

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Cynthia,

The information I can find about your match suggests the following data.

Car Kerbweight, 1184kg
Max permitted towed mass 1000Kg
power 103
Torque 175NM

Gobur Carousel 10/2T
MIRO 715kg
MTPLM 950kg

This gives a tow ratio of 950/1184 = 80%

What I don't know is the cars MAM but I guess it will be around the 1650kg mark

That gives an all up train weight of about 2600kg or 2.6Tonnes

The ability to get an outfit moving (accelerating) is down to the torque that available. in this case its 175NM at about 2000rpm.

The advice given by PC in their choosing a tow car guide suggests 60NM /Tonne should just about work so more is better. They reckon 80NM/T should give reasonable performance. Your outfit will have 67/tonne - part way in between. It will obviously improve if you do not fully load the car or caravan.

It wont be the most sprightly match on the road but propbaly OK

Now the nose weight, YOu have to abide by the manufactures specified limit which seems to be 50kg. You should know by now the actual nose weight produced by the caravan depends on how you load it, so if you are currently getting 63, then its within your power to get it down to 50, by rearranging how you load the caravan.

50Kg is not generous, but it does meet the EU regulations that require a tow ball to be able to carry at least 4% of the maximum permitted trailer weight.

Should you change the car? Do bear in mind that most of the time you do not tow, so if the car meets your day to day needs, and it is technically capable of towing your caravan, then do you need to change? Not really. But when it come time to change the car you might want to consider a more capable tow vehicle.

 

[Mel]

I have never owned a folding camper but I imagine that the options for moving stuff about to change the noseweight are more limited than in an ordinary van??
mel

 

[WoodlandsCamper]

Cynth - if you don't need to upgrade and can manage your weight distribution (in the caravan I mean ), then don't upgrade just for the sake of it.

We down-graded our tug this year 'cos I've retired and I can't afford to run 2 cars on pittance (The OH said the Vectra was tooooooooooooooooo big, and I have to do what she says). We are still only towing at 80%, though, with the new tug.

 

[CyberCynth]

Hi folks, thank you all very much for your suggestions.

I really don't want to have to change the car, the Fabia suits me very well for day-to-day running about, and on its own, is very economical, the DSG automatic gearbox being 7-speed. However, I'm still a bit concerned about the fact that the car burns a bit of oil when towing. Fortunately perhaps, these days, I don't venture too far on my outings - limited somewhat by my financial restrictions since retiring, so the car is never going to be travelling huge distances, and I always check the oil after each towing journey.

You are right Mel, packing is a fine art in a folding caravan, and I suppose I am guilty of storing more than I should in the front locker. I will have to jiggle things around to get some weight off the hitch.

Thanks again folks, have a lovely weekend, let's hope the weather doesn't spoil things for anyone venturing out to a site!

 

[Raywood]

Given the 50 kg tow ball loading allowance for the car, I would buy a tow ball weight guage from a dealer to make sure you are safe.

 

[colin-yorkshire]

hi CyberCynth,
looking at the figures I would say the match is more than adequate and considering the trailer is not the normal van height and therefore less likely to be affected by wind ect your little car seems perfect.
many of us choose to tow our vans with average cars because of the prohibitive running costs of what could be called a proper tow car, true we tend to tow smaller vans, but thats a compromise worth paying. for the times the car is solo,
you say it uses a bit of oil but not exactly how much, it is usual for a smaller car to use a bit more oil and indeed more fuel while towing but that is to be expected, consider this if it cost 1ltr extra oil and 25% more fuel for a few days away it has to be more cost effective than running a twice the size car perminantly, even though the extra fuel used while towing could be smaller. as long as the oil consumption is not excessive I would not worry too much.

regarding nose weight 50kg is fine it's the same as the Meriva it's more than 4% so that's fine you don't have to move much to get it down from 65kg ready for the technical bit :evil: the difference between 50 and 65kg is 15kg, now that equates to 7.5kg of balance because moving this amount from in front of the axle to behind the axle doubles it's value, the EHU cable weighs about 10kg so you have some idea how much to move. the further away you move it from the balance point (usually the wheel) the more weight you take off the nose.